This past fall, after 7 or 8 long years together, my beloved coffee machine broke. The time felt right for an upgrade. I had seen my friend Liz rave and rave about her Miele Coffee machine. One day we were at lunch and I asked her if it was really worth it. I hate asking people if really expensive things are worth the money (they rarely are, and “worth it” is so different from person to person), but I did it anyway. Her whole face lit up. She proceeded to absolutely gush about how it makes better coffee than her coffee shop, how it made mornings so special, how you could make pretty much every drink with it (cappuccino, espresso, lattes, Americano!) and so on and so forth.
I decided to take the plunge and splurged on the Miele CM 6150 coffee maker. It is a lot of money to spend on a coffee machine, but something I use every single day. I am a big coffee person… I regularly buy (or bought, before getting this) myself a nice coffee a few times a week and at home typically have two cups a day. So I knew that if I really loved it, if it really was that good, it would be worth the investment in the long run.
Miele Coffee Maker Review
I truly love this coffee maker. And I kind of have a strange emotional attachment to it. I have had it since mid-November and I actually miss it when I travel… the coffee just isn’t as good. I love how simple it is. A push of a button and I can have pretty much any coffee drink I want. Admittedly nine times out of ten I am just making myself an Americano but it is nice to be able to treat myself or a guest to a cappuccino without leaving the house.
I liked mine so much that when I saw it on sale at Best Buy, I bought it for my parents for Christmas. It is no longer on sale there but right now it’s currently $200 off at Bloomingdale’s.
PS – my mug is from The Coy Collection – a very fun Black-owned small business.
Miele CM 6150 Coffee Maker
Besides hearing Liz gush about her machine, this had spectacular reviews. People seemed to really love it. It was also the right size. It is pretty heavy but doesn’t take up too much counter space (about 10″ wide by 17″ deep). You can make pretty much any drink with it (espresso, coffee, cappuccino, long coffee, ristretto, latte macchiato, caffè latte) but it can also do hot water, hot milk, or just frothed milk. The water container holds about 60 ounces.
Pros:
- The coffee is incomparable to any other at home coffee I’ve made. So, so good.
- It makes basically any kind of coffee drink you could want with the click of a button. No guess work or trying to figure out proportions.
- I love that it grinds the beans fresh for every cup. It definitely impacts the taste.
- It self-cleans. My parents jokingly call it the cleanest machine in the world. It rinses when you turn it on and then again when you are done making your drink(s). The outer machine itself is also very easy to clean (sometimes I worry about white). I just wipe it down with a damp cloth.
Cons:
- This isn’t really a con but the machine does have maintenance. The biggest thing is that you have to descale it every 30 uses (this really isn’t a big deal, but it IS a big deal when you just really want coffee and are in a rush and you have to stop and descale the machine – it takes about 15 minutes – again not a huge deal but worth mentioning. The brew unit also needs to be degreased occasionally.
- It’s a little loud. This doesn’t bother me but my parents say that Muddy (their dog) barks every time it rinses itself, which is a lot (as mentioned above it rinses at start up and also afterward).
How To Use A Miele Coffee Maker
Honestly, you just turn it on and tell it what you want. But I guess there are a couple other steps. When you first turn it on, it will go through a little self-rinsing routine. You might need to fill the water tank or dump out the bottom compartment which fills up with water and coffee grounds.
Keep the bean container filled with whole beans. The bean container holds about 11 oz. I bought these coffee beans at Liz’s recommendation and really like them but my boyfriend got me Joshua Tree coffee and I like that even better. We are both big fans of “The First Roast.”
There is also an option to use ground coffee but I haven’t tried that yet. I love that the machine grinds fresh beans for every cup… #spoiled.
If you are making a drink with milk, you just put the milk pipe straw into the top of the milk carton… it sucks the milk out of the carton, no extra containers necessary.
There is a cup warmer on the top. Honestly, I don’t do this as I don’t like my coffee too hot but it’s a pretty cool feature!
How To Clean Miele Coffee Maker
This machine is pretty clean. You do need to descale it every 30 uses, but again that’s not a huge deal. I recommend buying Miele’s descaling tablets on Amazon. The coffee machine comes with two but if you are anything like me, 30 uses comes pretty quickly!
My Honest Review Of The Miele Coffee Maker
I absolutely love this coffee machine. And I am so happy I bought it. I am a big coffee person and have a cup or two every day and when my boyfriend is here, he has at least two. So for me, it’s worth it. It’s far and away the best at-home coffee I have ever tried. It’s so convenient and the coffee is just GOOD… almost creamy!
If you don’t care that much about coffee, or if you just want something simple, skip it. It can be a little bit noisy and there definitely is a learning curve with “getting to know” it. For example, while I love mine, there is a part of me that feels like my parents kind of hate it and would just rather use their regular coffee pot!
You can buy it at Amazon, Best Buy, Bloomingdale’s (currently on sale), or Williams-Sonoma.
Disclosure: If you buy something through my links, I may earn an affiliate commission, at no cost to you. I only feature things I truly love here. Thanks for your support.
photography by Laura Saur.
I’ve been eyeing this for months since you and Liz both raved about it! I’m so curious how much coffee it serves up when you select the plain old coffee setting? I have a simple coffee maker now and like pouring myself a big cup in the morning. I’ve been unsure about the Miele as I hate how Keurig or Nespresso machines only serve up enough coffee to fill half my mug. Is that the case here?
So the coffee it makes is European style, you may be disappointed!
I find it’s so strong that I can’t do a giant cup like I used to. I usually make an Americano which is bigger but still so much stronger than “regular coffee”. There’s a setting to do a double Americano which would fill your cup up all the way but it might make you jittery 🙂
You can actually program the settings to make a bigger cup! I have a 16oz Yeti mug that i fill with coffee directly from the machine every morning. It probably ends up being closer to 12ox of coffee and then i still add cream (the nuclear flavored kind from coffeemate b/c I’m a monster)
I will warn you that this machine does require maintenance. I love it and highly recommend it, but it’s annoying to just want to grab a cup of coffee in the morning and instead the machine is bossing you around – empty the drip tray, refill the water, refill the beans. Again, love it, but it makes you work a little bit.
Oh my gosh yes that is exactly it – being bossed around! I feel the same – it’s worth it, and such good coffee… but there are mornings where I have to do all 3 of those things and end up salty about it. My dad was complaining about this, and said that he and my mom have a thing where they check the water and drip tray the night before so there’s no morning hassle!
If you’re looking for a basic coffee maker that will give you size options, I highly, highly recommend this Ninja one! So easy to use, you don’t need pods, and you have a ton of options for cup size, including a large travel mug option (or carafe). It also makes a good iced coffee, and has options for specialty coffeehouse-style drinks (I haven’t tried to make anything other than hot/iced coffee, so can’t speak to the quality of those).
https://www.target.com/p/ninja-hot-38-iced-coffee-maker-cm305/-/A-81665007?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000012806756&CPNG=PLA_Appliances%2BShopping_Local%7CAppliances_Ecomm_Home&adgroup=SC_Appliances_Coffee+Makers+%26+Accessories&LID=700000001170770pgs&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=g&device=c&location=9005534&targetid=aud-1453399007976:pla-1439047010324&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1247068&gclid=Cj0KCQiAmeKQBhDvARIsAHJ7mF6eruTq4E5lyj9ZxvQAhkttpPJnjoj0RVzQD9cXgmuCEKECYqVs49gaAsA1EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Thanks for sharing!
I have two built in Miele coffee makers plus other built in products from Miele in each of my kitchens. First, I love the coffee that they make. The issue is lack of reliability and lack of service. One has been in use for 5+ yrs with absolutely no issues. The second one was put in service 15 months ago and we have had the service tech out two times (waited over 3 months for the service) and are in need of a third time. This third time we were told we now live outside the service area and they will not service this machine. I didn’t move and they have been here two times. Shame on Miele!
Kent Grathwohl
You make this sound so awesome. When I saw that there was a $200 discount, I was like, “please don’t cost what I think it does, please don’t cost what I think it does” as I clicked the link….argh, it was worse! Hahaha. This is definitely an investment/cost per use thing, which I whole-heartedly approve of, especially since espresso drinks are so expensive at US shops. This is going on my “maybe, someday” list!
I know, it’s wonderful but definitely a big investment!
This is the best machine! We have this model in condo and an in wall unit at our house ( have had one in 2 houses, 20 yrs)! Make sure you use good beans that aren’t oily- we but fresh local roasted!
Nothing like a great cup of coffee- a simple pleasure- enjoy!
I might have to treat myself to one of these!
Danielle | thereluctantblogger.co.uk
So, question — this just makes single servings, right? (Of various size.) It seems wonderful but I host a lot of family dinners (or do when we’re not in a pandemic) and I need to make a pot of coffee at the end for everyone. This doesn’t make a standard pot, correct? (This question seems dumb!)
Hi Jessica,
I wasn’t sure as I have never tried this, so I consulted the manual. There is a coffee pot setting where you can make up to 8 cups of coffee in a row. So kind of like a pot of coffee… but yeah, this is really better suited for single servings IMO!
I’ve had an older version of this machine for about 7 years now. It still makes me happy every single morning. I just love it!
Oh that makes me so happy to hear. I could not love mine more and hope it lasts a very long time!
Better than the mocha master?
I love my Miele CM6360. It does take some setup initially to get the unit to make “your” perfect cup of coffee (e.g., getting the right mix of water to serving of coffee). Be prepared to read the manual and get real familiar with the unit, which will pay off in your continued use of the machine. I highly recommend getting water hardness test strips, which will provide you the information needed to set the water hardness setting on the machine. Doing so will increase the times between having to descale the unit. By default, the unit assumes a high water hardness value, requiring more frequent descaling. If you’re not on well water, chances are your won’t have hard water.
Agree with this completely! And thanks for the tip re: hard water!
We have an earlier version of this countertop machine – it will be ten years old this fall. We are approaching 20,000 cups of coffee and espresso made – yes, it does have a counter. The manufacturer at the time of purchase put the total duty cycle at 50,000 cups which for us will be a device lifespan of 25 years. I purchased the unit as a gift for my wife. If she had to choose between me and the machine, it would be an easy decision.
We just had our first repair, the brew unit had a plastic part under spring pressure break. The brew unit is easily removable – it is a large box that can be removed as part of the occasional cleaning / wipedown process. Miele shipped a replacement brew unit overnight ! The brew unit mechanism ( the replacement part ) was about $225.
The machine is programmable to adjust the bean grind size, coffee intensity, volume of liquid dispensed for both coffee and espresso and coffee temperature. These settings are a set and forget type, so not something you generally mess with.
As mentioned in the review, there are two mandatory cleaning processes that require 2 types of cleaning tablets, one for the brew unit and the other for descaling the boiler. You get a popup message telling you when to do this. The descaling message allows you 50 more cups of coffee before it shuts down. The brew unit clean can be put off by ignoring the message. This is good if you are having guests and they “must” have coffee from “Das Machine.”
To the author – I have no idea why you need to Descale every 30 cups. That is crazy. The unit comes with litmus paper to perform a water test on your water to set the machine to one of 4 water hardness settings. Ours is set at #2 Soft and we probably get a Descale notification every one to two months. Brew unit cleaning is on a similar schedule. It’s not that big of a deal. I suspect your machine is set for very hard water and demands descaling more often.
The machine is loud. It has a burr grinder which is briefly noisy. You get used to it. Coffee drinking guests that can just push a button for a great cup don’t care. The machine dispenses coffee European style at 170F on the hottest setting. If you are into smoking hot coffee, you will need to readjust your expectations. If you are into flavored coffee or coffee that has sticky beans – don’t do it in this machine – it will jam the mechanism. I don’t use the milk heater with this device, I think it is a pain to clean. I have a separate milk frother.
I chose this machine over the Nespresso for cost reasons. No cartridges ! You just dump in whole beans. At the end of the day, you empty the grinds into the trash with no plastic waste. I’m not going to compare this to a K-Cup machine. Go ahead and call me an elitist.
If you are having a dinner party and guests want coffee, it may be better to make a pot ( not with this machine) depending on how many people want coffee. You could probably do 6 or 8 people, but more than that is just pushing it for time and noise.
Changing beans to decaf for a party would be a pain. You would have to suck / scoop out the old beans. There is a separate chute where you can pour in ground coffee for a single serving. I have never done this. I just make a pot of decaf if we have a lot of takers.
One last thing – there is cleaning to do other than daily emptying of the grounds tray and the tablet cleanings. You should pull the brew unit out once in a while and try to clean the inside of the machine. I use hot water in a spray bottle and a few paper towels about once every two months. Stuff gets caked up inside. The manual mentions it, briefly.
As you can tell, we love the machine and recommend it to others.
Best
I think your review had me sold at “If she had to choose between me and the machine, it would be an easy decision.” . Thanks for the in depth information!
ha ha I loved that too.